Van Olmen & Wynant
“The team at Van Olmen & Wynant is precise and has good expertise and knowledge on employment matters, as well as the ability to give good advice and guidance.”
The right dimension for your legal solutions
Van Olmen & Wynant is an independent law firm offering quality services with a personal touch and a double-niche focus on employment and corporate law. The firm serves large and medium corporations and regularly acts for top executives.
Situated in the capital of Europe, the firm has an extensive expertise in EU employment and its members are heading L&E’s EU focus group.
Employment expertise and experience
Van Olmen & Wynant covers the full spectrum of employment law:
- Individual Employment Law, including employment agreements, service agreements, individual dismissals, self-employment and discrimination;
- Collective Labour Law, including company restructuring, transfer of businesses, collective dismissals, outsourcing, collective bargaining agreements and complex employment issues connected with M&A;
- Compensation and benefits, including executive remuneration and benefits and international compensations schemes;
- Social security;
- Internal policies and codes of conduct;
- EU employment law;
- Whistleblowing law;
- Privacy and GDPR;
- Social criminal law.
The firm has a substantial litigation practice in these areas, before all Belgian labour courts. Acting for the three largest public companies in Belgium, it has developed a specific expertise in civil servants law and litigation before the Belgian administrative courts, including the Raad van State / Conseil d’Etat.
Van Olmen & Wynant and its founding partners are recognised by Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500, which describes the firm as “An exceptional law firm in terms of business orientation. It is solution-oriented with great communication skills and it is very responsive.”
International recognition
International directories Chambers and Partners, Who’s Who Legal, Best Lawyers and The Legal 500 recognise Van Olmen & Wynant and its founding partners as a high level employment firm for more than a decade.
Van Olmen & Wynant
Contact person
People of Van Olmen & Wynant
Gautier Busschaert
- Phone
- +32 264 405 11
- gautier.busschaert@vow.be
- Address
-
Avenue Louise 221
1050
Brussels
Belgium
+32 264 405 11
https://www.vow.be/en
- Languages
- English, Dutch, French
Gautier Busschaert is attorney at Van Olmen & Wynant, specialised in employment law.
Before joining Van Olmen & Wynant in 2013, Gautier was a teaching assistant at his Alma Mater in the Department for European and international law from 2011 to 2013.
Gautier is fluent in French and English and has a good knowledge of Dutch. He was admitted to the Brussels Bar in 2013.
Gautier graduated from the University of Louvain (UCL, 2005) and obtained a Masters in European Law from the University of Brussels (ULB, 2006). He holds a PhD in law from the University of Leicester which he obtained in 2014. In 2022 he teaches European labour law to the master students in law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Gautier is a member of the European Employment Lawyers Association, regularly publishes in both national and international law reviews and is a national contributor to the “European Employment Law Cases” (EELC) review.
Publications from Belgium
Memberships
Admitted to the Brussels Bar in 2019
Education
- University of Ghent (UGent, 2018)
- LL.M. in Public International Law from the Free University of Brussels (ULB, 2019)
Ségolène de Borchgrave
- Phone
- +32 2 644 05 11
- segolene.de.borchgrave@vow.be
- Address
-
Avenue Louise 221
1050
Brussels
Belgium
+32 2 644 05 11
https://www.vow.be/en
- Languages
- Dutch, English, French
Ségolène de Borchgrave is attorney at Van Olmen & Wynant, specialised in employment law and civil servants’ law.
She was admitted to the Brussels Bar in 2019 and joined Van Olmen & Wynant in 2021.
Ségolène graduated from the University of Ghent (UGent, 2018) and obtained an LL.M. in Public International Law from the Free University of Brussels (ULB, 2019).
Publications from Belgium
Pieter Pecinovsky
- Phone
- +32 264 405 11
- pieter.pecinovsky@vow.be
- Address
-
Avenue Louise 221
1050
Brussels
Belgium
+32 264 405 11
https://www.vow.be/en
- Languages
- Dutch, English, French
Dr. Pieter Pecinovsky is of counsel at Van Olmen & Wynant, specialised in employment law.
Pieter graduated from the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) as a Master of Laws in 2013. Additionally, he obtained the degree of Doctor of Laws at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in 2018. His PhD on EU economic governance and the right to collective bargaining was awarded the Brian Bercusson Award on European Labour Law 2019.
Currently, Pieter works as a legal advisor (Of Counsel) and knowledge manager at Van Olmen & Wynant. In addition, he is Affiliated Senior Researcher at the Institute for Labour Law of Leuven University (KU Leuven) and he teaches comparative labour law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and comparative industrial relations law at the UCLouvain. In the previous years he functioned as lecturer in social law at KU Leuven.
Pieter is a part of the Editorial Board of the Arbeidsrecht Journaal and of the Nieuwsbrief Arbeidsrecht. He is also a member of BEGASOZ/ABETRASS (Association of Belgian Professors of Social Law), the Belgian Association of Industrial Relations (BVVA) and the Academic Network on the European Social Charter and Social Rights. In addition he is appointed as expert in the Belgian Advisory Council of Social Criminal Law.
Pieter regularly speaks on academic and practical conferences and seminars in Belgium and internationally and publishes in academic journals, blogs and books.
Publications from Belgium
Memberships
- Admitted to the Bar, 2007
- Member of the Belgian Association of Social Law Practitioner Lawyers (AJPDS)
- Member of the International Bar Association (IBA)
- Member of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Belgium (CCI France Belgique)
Education
- Master in Business Law, 2007, at the University of Ghent
- Lic. Jur., 2006, at the University of Brussels
Nicolas Simon
- Phone
- +32 264 405 11
- nicolas.simon@vow.be
- Address
-
Avenue Louise 221
1050
Brussels
Belgium
+32 264 405 11
https://www.vow.be/en
- Languages
- French, Dutch, English
Nicolas Simon is a Partner at Van Olmen & Wynant, specialised in employment law, with a focus on psychosocial risks (i.e. harassment, violence), discrimination and privacy issues related to the use of new technologies in the workplace. He also regularly advises international clients on cross-border work.
Nicolas Simon graduated from the University of Brussels in 2006 (ULB). He holds a Master’s in business law from the University of Ghent (UGent, 2007).
Nicolas Simon has extensive experience as a litigator before the courts. He covers the various aspects of individual employment law, such as employment contracts, service agreements, individual dismissals and self-employment issues, as well as collective labour law, including collective dismissals and closure or transfer of undertakings, collective actions and strikes, social security.
Furthermore, Nicolas Simon acquired an expertise in day-to-day advice both from a law firm and client perspective, through secondments with large corporate clients. He is recognized for his responsiveness and practical advice.
Nicolas Simon has been a speaker at numerous conferences for i.a. the Belgian Institute of Company Lawyers, the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Belgium and the European Employment Summit, on various topics such as whistleblowing, the meta-verse, strikes and lock-outs, psychosocial risks and privacy in the workplace. He is also a regular speaker at in-house client seminars. Nicolas is the author of the Belgian chapter in The Labor & Employment Disputes Review (The Law Reviews) and has contributed to various publications on the International Employment Lawyer.
Nicolas Simon is a member of the International Bar Association (IBA). He is a regularly speaker and contributes to the preparation of international reports.
Publications from Belgium
Awards
Chris Van Olmen “always puts his clients first; he does go the extra mile in ensuring that things are delivered.”
– Chambers & Partners 2022
Chris Van Olmen is “without a doubt a top lawyer in the employment field” thanks to his compliance expertise and accomplishments in collective and individual disputes.
– Who’s Who Legal (2020)
“Chris Van Olmen is top of the bill in employment law, leading a law firm with over 30 lawyers. Always doing a great job.”
– The Legal 500 in 2022
Chris Van Olmen
- Phone
- +32 264 405 11
- Chris.van.olmen@vow.be
- Address
-
Avenue Louise 221
1050
Brussels
Belgium
+32 264 405 11
https://www.vow.be/en
- Languages
- Dutch, English, French
Chris Van Olmen is co-founder of the law firm Van Olmen & Wynant and head of the employment law practice. He is also co-founder and managing partner of L&E Global, an integrated alliance of premier employment law boutique firms.
Chris covers all aspects of employment and industrial relations, including employment-related issues connected to reorganisation and restructuring processes, collective dismissals and closures and individual and collective employment disputes, including litigation for the Belgian Labour Courts. His clients include national and international companies and top executives.
Chris is a reguar speaker or moderator at national and international seminars and conferences. His recent publications include: “International Labour and Employment Compliance Handbook” (Wolters Kluwer 2022); the Belgian Chapter in “Employment Law Review” (Law Business Research 2022); “The On Demand Economy”, Report of the IBA Global Employment Institute, 2019; “Le lien de subordination à l’épreuve de l’ubérisation de l’économie ?”, Wolters Kluwer / Chr. D.S. – Soc. Kron., 2016, 07.
Chris is listed as a leading individual in The Legal 500 (2022), in Chambers Europe (2022), in The International Who’s Who of Management Labour & Employment Lawyers (2022) and in Best Lawyers (2022). The Legal 500 includes Chris in its “Hall of Fame” (2022). Who’s Who Legal mentions Chris as a “Global Elite Thought Leader” in their WWL Thought Leaders Labour & Employment (2023) and Best Lawyers recognized Chris as the Employment Lawyer of the year (2022).
Since 1999 he has been lecturing on social law in the traineeship programme organised by the Brussels Bar. He also served as a member of the Brussels Bar Council and is Board Member of the “Association for Social Law”.
Chris Van Olmen is past Chair of the Employment and Industrial Relations Law Committee and is now Chairman of the Global Employment Institute of the IBA (International Bar Association).
Chris is also a member of EELA (European Employment Lawyers Association) and of the American Bar Association (Labour and Employment Law Section).